202
HISTORY
OF MIDDLEBURY.
CHAPTER VI.
NEW SETTLERS--STEPHEN GOODRICH--ROBERT
HUSTON--BUTTOLPH--KIRBY--SUMNER--PRESTON AND MUNGERS--SELLICK--DEACON SUMNER--OLMSTEAD--VANDUZER--BARNET--HAMMOND--CRAFT-LOOMIS.
WILLIAM HOPKINS, who commenced a settlement
before the war, on the south half of Oliver Evarts' 200 acre pitch east of the
village did not return, but sold his land to Captain Stephen Goodrich, from Glastenbury,
Conn. Capt. Goodrich, in the spring of 1784, came on with his two sons, William
and Amos, and took possession of his land. The sons remained and worked on the
land that season. The spring following the father returned with his family. We
have been able to obtain, through Mr. Battell, as before mentioned, the story
of Amos Goodrich, communicated in his lifetime, of some incidents attending the
settlement, which, with some facts obtained otherwise, we here insert.
Amos
Goodrich came from Glastonbury in 1784. His way was by Pawlet, to Hubbardton,
and across Hubbardton mountain through Whiting to Middlebury. Hop Johnson had
the only dwelling at the village, a sort of shanty on a small scale. He kept a
ferry across the creek near where the railroad bridge is. His brother William
was with him, and remained and became a citizen of Middlebury. They passed to
their lot at Dr. William Bass's, and spent the summer in clearing upon it. The
lot was bought the fall before by his father at Manchester, when he was on a journey
to examine into his interest in the town of Richford, of which he and other Glastenbury
men were proprietors. He had accompanied his father on this journey. William Hopkins
had
203
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
made an
opening on the lot during the summer, and commenced a cabin. When he and his
brother came in 1784, Foot was on the Foot street, Chipman and Painter were
beginning again in the south west quarter of the town, but only Hop Johnson
had a dwelling in the village quarter, on the west bank of the creek, and a
Washburn a clearing where he was building a saw mill. They passed their time
agreeably in their solitary place. He never was happier. A few strips of bark
on the roof above their bed protected them from the rain, and a few slabs of
bass-wood logs, set up about them, kept off the wind. Provisions they brought,
as they had occasion, from Pawlet, where their father arranged for their supply
of pork and flour, with a man who obtained them from Shaftsbury.
Amos
Goodrich, soon after coming to town had occasion to go to the falls and as the
paths which he followed were circuitous, he undertook to return by a straight
course. The whole region around the falls was a terribly dense hemlock forest.
After traveling some time he lost his way and found himself again on the bank
of the creek above the falls. Following the creek down to the Falls, he chose
to return by the circuitous path, rather than venture himself again in the pathless
forest. While his brother was gone to Pawlet for provisions, he had occasion to
go again to the falls. The eddy, as it is called, below the Falls, was filled
with a compact, immovable mass of flood-wood, which he walked over as on dry land.
At the foot of the falls he found an open place, with a flat, white rock at the
bottom of the water, covered with trout. He returned to the house, took a hatchel
tooth, bent it into a hook, tied it to a tow string, and hooked up the fish by
the gills, until he had taken nine large trouts, weighing a pound and a half each,
when the remainder fled under the flood-wood. This fact is stated to us by William
F. Goodrich, son of Amos, as received from his father.
The
same spring, his father, Stephen Goodrich, came up on foot from Glastenbury, the
brothers meeting him at Pawlet, and the whole party went to Richford to examine
their lands there. They were to meet a surveyor at Chimney Point, where they waited
one day, and went on to Burlington. Here again they were detained
204
HISTORY
OF MIDDLEBURY.
waiting for Ira Allen, who was absent
in Canada. At that time there was but one log house in Burlington, owned by Capt.
Byington, and at the falls only a mill and log house.
In
1785, other farms were commenced about them-Kirby on the lot where he settled,
Huston on the northeast, where Hammond lives, Johnson on the east, on the lot
where Deacon Matthews lives, Parker on the lot south.* Freeman Foot owned within
the village, and built on the New Haven road, near Miller's cellar, perhaps not
until the next year. About this time Stillman Foot owned a saw mill on the west
side of the falls, and the first road was opened from the mills to Foot street,
and west into Cornwall.
Stephen
Goodrich, his father, with his mother and sister, carne on in 1785, having a cart
and oxen, five cows and five or six hogs. The hogs followed the cart, lying under
it at night, and were fed with the milk, which was not needed for the family.
The son also states, as having learned from his father, that after the family
had used what milk they wished, the remainder was put into the churn on the cart,
and the motion churned it; and thus the family, on their way, were supplied with
butter as well as milk. There were no cattle near them for the first two summers;
the third, each of the neighbors had a cow.
The
brothers having met the family at cart, were put on board a raft at Pittsford,
they with the cart and floated down the creek. The creek became a favorite road
in the summer and winter. A boat was built early, which ran weekly to Pittsford
and back for passengers and freight. The roads in general were paths only, the
bushes being cut away and the trees marked. Such was the road by which the brothers
came through Whiting, passing round the swamp nearly into Shoreham. The road from
No. 4, (Charleston, N.H.,) to Ticondaroga, crossing the road they travelled,
was of the same character.
Hop
Johnson's was the point sought by travelers for Middlebury.
----------
* The lot on which Joseph Parker settled, was a fifty acre lot,
pitched by Judge Painter, and lying east of his Washburn pitch, on the south side
of the road opposite Dr. Bass's. The eastern part of it belongs to the widow of
Jonathan Wainwright, as a part of her dowery. No residence was long continued
on that lot.
205
HISTORY
OF MIDDLEBURY.
His accommodations were scanty.
Old Mr. Blodget kept a tavern in the part of Cornwall which is now in Middlebury,
very convenient for the travel on the ice, and much frequented.
The
bridge over the creek at Middlebury Falls was built by Stillman Foot, logs being
laid as abutments, the layers jutting over as they rose, till they extended, Mr.
Goodrich thinks, over the water,* leaving but seventy feet span to the trestle.
This was crossed by single string-pieces formed of pine trees, and these were
covered with poles. It rose about twelve feet above the water: Goodrich, for his
share, worked twelve days gratuitously.
The
first grain ground, after the family came, Amos Goodrich took to Salisbury. Col.
Sawyer had just completed a mill on the falls on Leicester River, at Salisbury
Village, and before Foot's mill was finished here. He went by the creek and Leicester
River, to within half a mile of the mill, and carried the grain from there on
his back.
The
first preaching, he says, was by an old gentleman, who came on account of the
service of Mr. Foot, a fine man, who read some of his old sermons. Mr. Robbins,
now Dr. Robbins of Hartford, came on and was spoken to about settling, but his
father advised him, not yet. He was a young man, but "read off his sermons pretty
smart." Mr. John Barnet was settled for a time. He was well liked; but left on
account of some controversies in the church, perhaps in connection with the difficulties
with father Foot.
Mr.
Goodrich says they had occasional adventures with the bears, which were troublesome,
and ate the corn. The little dog, he says, treed a bear and cub, at one time,
on Buttolph's land. Buttolph and his boy and Robert Huston and others came out,
but the party had but one gun between them. This Goodrich fired and wounded the
bear. She ran to another tree, a pine, going high up and resting upon a stub.
He then shot so directly under her from below, that she fell nearly upon him,
and he dispatched her with a club. Buttolph then shot the cub in the face, so
that it fell, and Goodrich seized it by the neck and hind legs, swung its head
----------
* In this Mr. GOODRICH was mistaken, or Mr.
BATTELL misunderstood him. The logs which formed
the abutment did not extend ever the water.
206
HISTORY
OF MIDDLEBURY.
against the tree and killed it. At another time Kirby found a bear near his
house. The dog treed it. John Kirby and Hollister were along. It saw them and
sprang down, but the dog pressed it back, and was carried up the tree, hanging
to the haunches of the bear, by its mouth. The bear was shot, and both fell
together, twenty-five or thirty feet.
Mr.
Goodrich, when this communication was made, said he had voted for every representative
chosen in town, and for every President from Washington down. Painter was the
first representative, then Miller. It was said that the House preferred Miller,
who "talked out what he wanted. Painter was one of your longheaded fellows, sly
around, but would bring things about. Miller would talk out. Painter would work
out of doors and carry his point."
The
father and brother of Mr. Goodrich were in the army. He was excused on account
of his stammering. His father was Lieutenant in Chester's company at Bunker Hill,
and had the same rank, with the command of a company at Saratoga. The captain,
on that occasion, being young, and the soldiers refusing to obey him, was displaced.
He fought on three days without injury. This was his last service in the militia.
His commission at Bunker Hill was from King George; after a few weeks he had one
from Washington,* which is still preserved.
Stephen
Goodrich and his son Amos continued to live on, and cultivate, the farm on-which
he first settled until January 1800. He had previously made an arrangement to
exchange his land for the farm on which Judge Painter first settled on the south
line of the town. Fifty acres on which his house stood he deeded to Dr. William
Bass, who had, two or three years before, then a young man, commenced the practice
of medicine here. That part of the
----------
* Capt. GOODRICH may have belonged to the
regular army and had a commission as Lieutenant, from Washington, as his son supposed,
which has been lost or sent to Washington to obtain his pension; but the commission
remaining among his papers is signed by JONATHAN TRUMBULL,
governor of Connecticut, dated 20th May, 1780, after all his service mentioned
above, and contains his appointment as "Captain of the third company of the alarm
list, in the 6th regiment of the State."
207
HISTORY
OF MIDDLEBURY.
farm which
lies between the road leading to Edwin Hammond's and the farm of Freeman Foot,
he deeded to Daniel Chipman, he having about that time purchased the Foot farm;
and the remainder Goodrich deeded to Painter. In January he removed to the Painter
farm and resided on it until his death in Sept. 1823, aged nintey-three years.
Amos continued to live with him, during his life, and occupied the farm afterwards
until his own death in 1854, at the age of ninety. The farm is now occupied
by William F. Goodrich, Son of Amos.
William
Goodrich, the other son of Stephen, about the year 1787, settled on a second
hundred acre lot, extending from Otter Creek eastwardly, where he built a small
house and kept a tavern for travelers on the creek, on the site of the cottage
afterwards built by Austin Johnson, Esq., and since occupied by his widow. Ira
the, year 1791 Goodrich purchased the west half of the second hundred acre division
on the minister's right, now owned by Jacob W. Conroe, east of Dr. Bass's, on
the opposite side of the road, built him a small house and lived there a few years.
In that year his wife opened, at her house, or. in a small school-house, on the
opposite side of the road, built about that time, the first school for children
kept in the neighborhood of the village. Mr. Goodrich, for several years afterwards
occupied the mill house and tended the saw mill of Judge Painter. After that he
erected the brick house now owned by the Episcopal Society, as a parsonage, where
he lived until his death. In the meantime he was chosen town clerk annually from
1797 to 1812, except one year. He died in the last mentioned year, of the epidemic,
at the age of fifty-seven.
In
1785, Robert Huston from Voluntown, Conn., settled on the north half of the Oliver
Evarts' pitch, about a mile northeast of the village. Evarts, an original proprietor,
in the controversy between the colonies and the mother country, adhered to the
cause of the latter. He had resided for a time in Castleton, Rutland County. Like
many others, he probably stood on neutral ground until the invasion of Burgoyne,
which produced a general panic, and to the faint hearted a discouragement as to
the prospect of the colonies. He about that time went over to the enemy, and was
208
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
residing
in Canada after the war. As usual, his land was promptly confiscated by the
authorities of the State. On the 24th of August 1778, James Claghorn of Rutland,
"commissioner for the sale of confiscated estates, in the probate district of
Rutland in the County of Bennington," "in the name and behalf of the representatives
of the freemen of the State of Vermont," granted to Robert Huston the whole
of Evarts' land, including his pitch, except one hundred acres before sold to
William Hopkins, which land "was the property of Oliver Evarts, and now forfeit
to this State by his treasonable conduct." Here Mr. Huston continued to reside
until the time of his death in 1827, at the age of seventy-seven. His son, Robert
Huston Jun., who had always resided with him, continued the possession for several
years, and sold the farm and removed to the west. It was until lately the residence
of Edwin Hammond, Esq. It has now by an exchange, become the residence of the
widow of William S. Hammond. Robert Huston Senior, at the second town meeting
in 1787, was chosen town clerk, and continued in that office until 1797. He
was also the first postmaster, and held several important trusts in town.
Ebenezer
Johnson, from Wells, Rutland County, the same year, went into possession of lot
No. 10, of the second hundred acre division, which lies next north of No. 9, of
the same division, about a mile east of the village. Johnson continued his possession
until 1794. It was afterwards owned by Josiah Stowell, from Mansfield, Conn.,
and was occupied from 1804 to 1812 by his son, Alfred Stowell, who built the present
house. At the latter date, Josiah Stowell went into possession himself. It is
now owned and occupied by Dea. Eli Mathews. Josiah Stowell also owned a part of
No. 9, on which the house. of Millen Stowell, another son, stands.
Elijah
Buttolph came into town as early as 1786, and perhaps the year before. His son
says, that, at the time, there were only sixteen families settled in town after
the war. He soon married the widow of Joseph Plumley, who had taken possession
of the farm, on which her husband had commenced a settlement before the war. He
occupied her farm until the daughter came of age, and had the use of a part afterwards
as the dower of his wife. Buttolph afterwards
209
HISTORY
OF MIDDLEBURY.
purchased several pieces of land, and a small piece of the Plumley lot, on which
he built his two story house, now owned by his son Elijah Buttolph, next south
of the Plumley farm. Elijah Buttolph senior, died in the year 1835, aged ninety-four
years. The daughter of Joseph Plumley married John A. Sumner of New Haven, and
they sold her farm on her coming of age. It has since been owned, successively
by Billy Manning, who resided on it several years, and by John Simmons Esq.
It is now owned by Reuben Wright.
Abraham
Kirby from Litchfield, Conn., father of Ephraim Kirby, a distinguished politician
of that State, moved with his family into town in February 1786, and settled on
a lot, which he had, on the 25th of March previous, pitched on the right of Rufus
Marsh, lying next south of a lot pitched on the same day for Joshua Hyde. John
S. Kirby, a son of Abraham, remained through the season of 1785, and cleared four
or five acres and sowed it to wheat, on his father's pitch. In the year 1790,
Mr. Kirby purchased for his son. Joseph, who had settled in Lanesborough, Mass.,
a lot lying next south of his and next north of Moses Hale's farm. His son, in
January 1792, moved on his family and took possession of his land. He and his
father occupied together the house which the latter had built, and which still
remains on the farm. In the spring of 1787, the year after his removal here, Mr.
Kirby sent his son, John S., to Pittsford, in company with some other men, to
procure apple trees, for the commencement of an orchard, which was the second
planted in town. They went up the creek in a canoe, and on their return, ran into
the rapids above the falls before they were aware of it, and the current was so
strong that they were unable to run their canoe ashore, and were rapidly approaching
the falls and expecting to be carried over and dashed to pieces on the rocks below.
As they passed under the bridge, which was then building in the place where it
now stands, Kirby caught hold of one of the timbers, and clung to it and delayed
the course of the canoe, until some men, who were present, came to their relief
and rescued them from their impending death.
In
January 1791, Mary Kirby, a daughter of Abraham Kirby,
210
HISTORY
OF MIDDLEBURY.
was married to Samuel Severance, son
of Ebenezer, an early settler, who will be mentioned hereafter. After their marriage
they settled on Hyde's pitch, next north of Kirby's farm, commenced a clearing,
built a house and resided on it six years. Afterwards Severance and John S. Kirby
exchanged lands, and Kirby took possession of Severance's farm, and lived on it
until, at an advanced age, he went to reside with his son in Ripton, where he
remained until his death in 1848, aged eighty-five years.
Abraham
Kirby, the father, died in 1796 at the age of sixty-five years. After his death,
his sons Joseph and John divided the farm, of which he remained the owner, Joseph
remaining in possession of the homestead, until his death in 1831, at the age
of sixty-three years. The house and farm are now occupied by his son Ephraim Kirby,
and the farm of John S. Kirby is owned and cultivated by Alvin Ball. All this
family were among the most respectable citizens of the town and members of the
Congregational Church. Joseph was one of its earliest deacons.
In
1786 Benjamin Summer, of Claremont, New Hampshire, having a deed of the governor's
right from Martha Wentworth, daughter and heir of Governor Benning Wentworth,
and her husband, Michael Wentworth, Col. William B. Sumner, his son settled on
that lot, cleared it up, and built the large house now standing on it. He remained
in possession of this farm until within a few years he sold it to Jonathan Wainwright
and went to the west to reside with his daughter. For some years he kept a house
of public entertainment. Previous to his final sale, he had sold about one hundred
acres, which has been owned successively by Juba Olmstead and Henry and Lucius
Barrows, sons of Lucius Barrows, and now by Charles H. Wicker. Col. Sumner also
sold a small tract, at the south end, which is owned by John A. Hummond. The remainder
of the lot was set off to the widow and heirs of Jonathan Wainwright, and most
of it is occupied by a tenant under the widow.
Jonathan
Preston; from New Canaan, N. Y., was the first who commenced a settlement on Munger
Street. In 1786, he went into possession of home lot No. 42, cleared a piece and
sowed it to
211
HISTORY
OF MIDDLEBURY.
wheat.
The next spring he moved his family, built a log house on his land, and afterwards
the present frame house.
Mr.
Asa Preston, his son, who is still living, and was then a member of the family,
states that there was no clearing between his father's and the village, except
on the rising ground where Robert Huston had just located himself, and where Edwin
Hummond has since lived, and that, as far as this place they traveled wholly by
marked trees. From Huston's the trees were cut away for a road. The path which
they traveled through the woods was full of roots, and, in many places, the mud
was deep between the roots. Mr. Preston says, that while riding through at one
time on horseback, his horse stepped one of his feet between two birch roots,
and was held fast. He struggled to extricate himself, but could not until Preston
obtained a lever and pried the roots apart sufficiently to let the horse's foot
out. There was a sort of bridge across Muddy Branch, where they passed, made with
poles placed lengthwise across the stream, and just wide enough for a single horse
to pass. As Mr. Preston was riding to mill with his grist on horseback, his horse,
on account of some defect in his limbs, traveled a little sideways, and stepped
one foot over the bridge and tumbled, with rider and grist, into the stream. Preston
picked himself up, drew his bags out of the water and went on.
It
was at that time all woods, Mr. Preston says, on the east side of the falls, where
the village now is, except a small clearing about Painter's mill, and a small
plank house where the miller lived. On the west side of the creek, there was a
saw mill belonging to Stillman Foot. The house built by him was then new, probably
built the year before, and is the same, with additions and alterations, in which
Daniel Henshaw lived for many years.
Jonathan
Preston continued to occupy the farm on which he first settled until his death
in 1809, at the age of sixty-three years. Since that event it has been owned and
is still occupied by his son Asa Preston.
Nathaniel
Munger, and his son-in-law Nathan Case, from Norfolk, Conn., commenced a settlement
on home lot 43, next south of Preston's, in 1787. Case was a blacksmith, and he
and Mr.
212
HISTORY
OF MIDDLEBURY.
Munger had each a log
house on the lot. Mr. Munger boarded with Mr. Preston in 1787, when he commenced
clearing his farm. He afterwards built the frame house in which Hiram Munger
now lives. After a few years Mr. Case moved to No. 12, in the east tier of home
lots, where Dudley Munger had commenced a clearing; and Nathaniel Munger continued
to occupy and cultivate the farm on which he first settled until the time of
his death in 1830, at the age of eighty years.
Edmund
Munger, in 1788 or 1789, settled on lot No. 44, next south of Nathaniel Munger's,
partly cleared it, and resided on it a few years, and sold it to Alpheus Brooks,
who occupied it until his death, and it is now owned by Hiram Munger.
Jonathan
Munger, about the same time, commenced a settlement on 41 next north of Preston's.
It was afterwards, for many years, owned and cultivated by Capt. David Chittenden,
and it is now owned and in the possession of David Hooker. Edmund and Jonathan
Munger, as early as 1797, removed to Ohio, and on their journey stopped at Cincinnati,
when there were only four log houses there.
Previous
to 1792, Dudley Munger, a brother of the others of that name, had made considerable
improvements on No. 12, and in that year sold it to Nathan Case, and removed to
No. 45, next south of Edmund Munger, on which he settled. Phineas Phelps had before
made a beginning on that lot and built a log house. Munger soon after built the
present two-story house and resided on the lot until the death of his wife, when
at an advanced age he went to reside in the family of his only son Hiram Munger,
Esq., on the Nathaniel Munger farm. The farm on which he lived is now owned by
Samuel N. Brooks.
Reuben
Munger, another brother, came to Middlebury about the year 1789. His first settlement
in Vermont was at Fair Haven. He settled on No. 40, the north lot on the west
tier of home lots. He lived on this lot until his death in 1828, at the age of
72.
Seymour
Sellick, from Salisbury Conn., settled on No. 46, belonging to the right of Bethel
Sellick, his father, an original proprietor. This lot lies south of and adjoining
Dudley Manger's
213
HISTORY
OF MIDDLEBURY.
farm, and
Sellick was in possession of it before Munger had taken possession of his. Munger
about that time married Sellick's sister. While they lived there, they each
built a two story house, of the same dimensions, only a few rods apart. Both
were raised on the same day, and both painted red. Mr. Sellick continued to
cultivate his farm until his death. It has since been owned by different persons,
and among others by Dea. Salmon Moulton from Orwell, who lived on it several
years. While in his possession in 1834, the house built by Sellick was burnt,
and the present house was built by him. It is now owned by Chauncey Moore.
These
seven families constituted the neighborhood of Munger Street, came into town near
the same time, and settled within an average distance of fifty rods of each other,
occupying the whole land on both sides of the street,-their farms being fifty
rods wide on the road, and one mile in length, east and west. The five Mungers,
with Elizur Munger, who spent only one year in town, constituted the six sons
of Elizur Munger of Norfolk, Conn., and were among the most respectable citizens
of Middlebury, as were also Mr. Preston and Mr. Sellick.
There
has been no permanent settlement on home lot No. 47, next south of Seymour Sellick's.
But Philip Foot, at an early day, built a saw mill on the west end of the lot,
which is now owned by Nichols and Wheeler, and used in connection with their chair
factory. It has been owned, and the houses in the neighborhood, occupied, at different
times, by different individuals.
Abel
Case, a brother of Nathan Case, at an early day settled on home lot 48. He built
the house now standing on it, and continued his residence there until 1831, when
he was thrown from his wagon while returning home from the village in the evening,
and descending the hill north of Edwin Hammond's. When discovered he was dead.
His son-in-law, George Smith, now owns and lives on the farm.
Daniel
Sellick, a brother of Seymour Sellick, at an early day, settled on the second
hundred acre division on the right of his father, Bethel Sellick, about a mile
southerly from the village. He had resided a year or two with his brother Seymour,
and in the mean-
214
HISTORY
OF MIDDLEBURY.
time was
married to Eleanor Goff from Winchester, Conn., then residing with her brother-in-law,
Abel Case. He built a log house on the lot then entirely new, cleared it and
resided on it until he died in January 1813, of the epidemic. His widow afterwards
resided with her son Bethel and a daughter on the same farm, and died October
27, 1856, aged ninety-seven years.
Mrs.
Sellick in her life time stated that when they settled on their farm, Judge Painter,
Dr. Matthews, John Deming and Samuel Miller resided in the village,-the last in
a small office. The village, she says, was not cleared except around the houses;
that a road was then open from their house northerly, to the road which passes
Dr. Bass's, a little east of Mr. Conroe's barn; but was open no further south,
except a wood road in winter, which was travelled only on horseback in summer
until the Centre Turnpike was built. She states, that while she lived at Abel
Case's; she, with Mr. Case and others, in the winter, started on an ox sled through
the woods to attend meeting at Daniel Foot's. The sled, on the way, run over the
end of a log, and turned them over, and her arm was broken. Religious meetings
were then held in Daniel Foot's large barn.
As
early as 1785, Hezekiah Wadsworth, a brother of Israel Wadsworth, owned a second
hundred acre lot, lying north of the farm formerly owned by Dea. Simon Farr. He
afterwards settled on it, built a house and resided there for several years, and
afterwards resided on the Harris farm, on the west side of the creek, then in
Cornwall, now owned by Mr. Shackett. The Wadsworth lot was afterwards owned by
Samuel Miller, as a part of his home farm. The house, which Wadsworth built, stood
on the road mentioned by Mrs. Sellick; and was afterwards moved by Mr. Miller
to the turnpike, a little south of the dwelling house lately owned by Seymour
J. Dewey, and now occupied by the widow of Gideon Carpenter, who died November
22, 1858, aged 66 years. The house has been known as Miller's farm house. The
lot is now owned by Gen. Nash, and the house by Louis Hope.
About
the year 1790, Dea. Simon Farr settled on a farm lying south of Wadsworth's, and
north of Daniel Sellick's, where he resided for many years, until he removed to
New Haven. The farm
215
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
had for many years, been owned by Mr. Roswell Fitch, since deceased, and is
now owned by Augustus H. Matthews.
Martin
Evarts, Esq., settled on home lot 64, lying next north of Martin Foot's farm,
as early as 1788, cleared it up and built the two story house, in which he resided
until the time of his death. It is now owned by Gardner C. Cady, who resides on
it.
Ebenezer
Severance, from Northfield, Mass., moved into town as early as the spring of 1790,
and settled on the west end of home lots 16 and 17. These he cleared and cultivated,
as his home farm until the time of his death in 1812, at the age of seventy-three.
He owned also the west half of 18 and 19, and the easy half of 55 in the west
tier of home lots, lying west of and adjoining No. 18. By an arrangement between
his son Samuel Severance, and his son-in-law John S. Kirby, he deeded to the former
the three lots last mentioned, and Samuel Severance deeded to Kirby the lot on
which he had commenced and resided, and took possession of the lands received
from his father. And, as before mentioned, John S. Kirby took possession of the
lot next north of his father, Abraham Kirby, received from Severance.
Samuel
Severance settled on the east end of 55, and cleared 18 and 19, which were entirely
wild. Here he resided until 1851, when he died at the age of eighty-six years.
The farm is now owned by his sons Smith Severance and Darius Severance, each of
whom has a house on the premises. The widow of Samuel Severance is a daughter
of Abraham Kirby, as we have before intimated, and is still living at the age
of eighty-five, with a remarkable intelligence and memory for her age. From her
we have derived many facts in relation to the early settlement.
Enos
Severance, another son of Ebenezer Severance, settled on the west end of home
lots 14 and 15, next north of his father, built the present house, now occupied
by his widow, and remained until his death in 1842, at an advanced age.
Moses
Severance, another son, who came into town with his father, after residing elsewhere
for several years, returned to Middlebury with his family, and lived in the house
with his father, and took care of him in his old age, and remained in possession
of the
216
HISTORY
OF MIDDLEBURY.
farm until
his death. The farm is now owned and cultivated by David E. Boyce, son of Dea.
David Boyce.
John
Tillotson, a young man from Long Island, came to Middlebury in 1784, with no capital
but his hands, and an enterprising disposition. The following year he married
the daughter of Simeon Chandler, then a resident, and for several years remained
in the family of his father-in-law. In the meantime he labored for different persons,
and thus supported his family, and accumulated property sufficient to enable him
to buy land for himself. He first began and built a log house on home lot No.
29. He soon moved to No. 28, where Philo Achley had commenced a clearing and built
a plank house. On this lot he built the present house and adjoining buildings.
Here he resided until October 1855, when he died at the age of ninety-three. The
farm has been recently sold by his heirs to E. K. Severance, who now owns it.
About
the time of John Tillotson's purchase, his brother Silas Tillotson settled on
No. 30, next south. He remained several years in possession of this lot, and moved
from town. The farm is now owned by William P. Huntington.
Deacon
Ebenezer Sumner, in 1787, settled on home lot 36 opposite the house of Philip
Foot, where he resided until his death. The following is a part of the story of
his widow as related to Mr. Battell in 1850, when she was ninety-one years old.
She died in 1853, at the age of ninety-four.
She
was a native of Chatham, Conn., and her name was Hall. Her husband was from Middletown.
They were married in 1780, and ten days after they accompanied his father to Wells,
in Rutland County. After remaining there seven years the difficulty of maintaining
a religious organization, in so broken a town, led her husband to remove. They
came to Middlebury with their children, and settled near the north end of Foot
Street. Their log house stood with the wood so darkening around it, that they
could not see the road on the left; and seemed shut off from it, and it was at
first very gloomy. After mentioning the organization of the church, she says,
that there was subsequently much interest, with a part of
217
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
the people, in religious things. The women and children came to meeting on sleds
from Munger Street; and old Mr. Weeks and wife came six miles from Salisbury.
Four or five professors, within two miles, among whom was her husband, would
meet once a fortnight, at each other's houses for prayer and conversation. She
does not remember the names of the first preachers. Dr. Swift preached two or
three times a year before Mr. Barnet came. Mr. Barnet was ordained in a barn;
Dr. Merrill in the Court house. Mr. Barnet lived in her own neighborhood. One
summer Mr. Foot did not like to be troubled with the meetings, he said, and
they were held in her husband's barn.
The
stake for the centre of the town was set south of them on Foot Street; but Mr.
Foot would not set out fifty acres in lots, and Judge Painter said they must go
to the village. When they did this finally, father Foot left the church and joined
the Baptists, and was immersed in Lemon Fair. Mrs. Sumner thought him a good man,
but he was irritable and strong tempered. His wife was an excellent woman. Her
name was Stillman, and she had two sisters in Middletown, one of whom was the
mother of Mr. Daniel Henshaw. Mrs. Foot used to tell of being here before the
war. The summer before they left, their beds were packed every morning ready for
a start. Mr. Foot finally left and staid in Washington, Berkshire County.
Dr.
Willard was the first physician she saw here. The people used to doctor one another.
Hearing of the sickness of others, and supposing some remedy would be useful,
they communicated it. Watchers went two miles and more. She remembered the dysentery
as an epidemic about forty years ago. A grave was opened in town every day for
four weeks, and on two Sundays of those, a man and child were buried.
She used formerly to visit Connecticut, at least as often as once in five years,
travelling by sleigh or waggon, and sometimes on horseback. She had ridden, in
this way, the whole distance, going about forty miles a day.
Mr.
Sumner was one of the first deacons in the congregational church and was regarded
as a very pious man, and a faithful sup-
218
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
porter of religious institutions. His death occurred in August 1844, at the
age of eighty-seven years.*
Elijah
Olmstead of Bolton, Conn., in 1787 owned lots 11 and 12 of the second hundred
acre division, lying east of the governor's lot. These two lots belonged to Oliver
Evarts, at the time his property was confiscated for "treasonable conduct," and
seem not to have been discovered by the authorities of Vermont. Olmstead settled
on No. 12, cleared it, built the two story house still standing, and continued
to occupy it for many years. In 1814 he sold this farm to Col. Eleazer Claghorn,
then residing in Salisbury, who continued his possession of it until his death
in 1813, at the age of sixty-eight. It is now owned by Harry Goodrich Esq.
Lot
No. 11 was purchased by Samuel Little, who, with his brother, James Little, went
into possession of it, cleared it, and each built a plank or log house, one on
the north part, where Mr. Barrows' house stands, and the other on the south half.
Eleazer Barrows in 1796 purchased the whole lot, and resided on it with his family
until his death in 1840, at the age of seventy-one. In the meantime he built the
present two story house. Mr. Lucius Barrows, his son., has occupied the farm since
his death.
Abraham
Vanduzer of Salisbury, Conn., came to Middlebury in 1789, with his eldest daughter
and his son Harry Vanduzer, leaving his family behind for about two years. For
two or three years he carried on the farm which Judge Painter left when he removed
to the village. His son remained through the winter to take care of the cattle,
and boarded at Capt. Thomas Chipman's, the nearest resident family. In 1793, Vanduzer
purchased of Col. Sloan the south half of the Slasson pitch and settled on it.
While living there he built the small house, in which he resided at the time of
----------
*Dea. Summer at an early day deeded to his son, James Sumner, home
lot 22. In 1811 he began to clear it, then in an entirely wild state. On this
lot he has since resided with his family. His son, J A. Sumner occupies with him
the new house recently built. Dea. Sumner also deeded to his son Samuel lot No.
20 who cleared it and resided on it for several years, and afterwards removed
from town. Charles Landon Jun., occupies the south half and Charles Sullens the
north half.
219
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
his death, which occurred in 1795, at the age of fifty-three. His widow survived
him many years and resided in the same house.
Harry
Vanduzer, son of Abraham, in 1794 began a clearing on home lot 58, on the right
of Noah Chittenden, the whole of which his father previously owned, built a log
cabin on it, and resided there with his family. In the meantime Samuel Vanduzer
had built the two story house now standing on the homestead of his father. In
the year 1806, Harry, having purchased the interest of Samuel in the premises,
removed to that farm and resided on it until the year 1825, when he removed to
Oneida County, N. Y., where he died in 1829. Mrs. Dorrance, widow of Martin S.
Dorrance, is his daughter. The whole farm, on which Abraham Vanduzer first settled,
is now owned by the town, as a poor house and farm.
John
Vanduzer, another son of Abraham, settled on the second hundred acre lot, on the
right owned by his father, lying east of and adjoining the Slasson pitch and north
of the Loomis lot. He cleared this farm and built the present house which has
since been altered and repaired. He removed from the State in 1814; and was succeeded
by Capt. Timothy Matthews. The farm is now owned by John Vallett, residing in
the village.
Rev.
John Barnet, who was ordained as the pastor of the Congregational Society in 1790,
and, as "the first settled minister," was entitled to a whole right, instead of
selecting either lot on that right for a residence, settled on home lot 57, in
the neighborhood, which it was supposed would be established as the centre of
the town. On this lot he resided while he remained in town. This lot and the lot
south of it, on which Harry Vanduzer first settled, were united in one farm by
Dr. William Bass, and constituted the farm lately owned by Jacob W. Conroe and
now by Smith K. Seeley.
Cyrus
Starkweather had commenced a settlement on the lot afterwards occupied by Mr.
Barnet. He then settled on the east half of the second hundred acre lot on the
minister's right, built a house there and in 1793, sold the premises to John Deming.
Moses
Boardman, about the year 1788, settled on No. 3 of the second hundred acre division.,
and after residing on it for several
220
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
years sold the farm to Ichabod Morton, who continued to occupy it until his
death, and in the meantime built the present two story house. He died in 1826,
at the age of sixty-four years.
Billy
Munger, about the same time, settled on No. 1, east of Moses Boardman's, and adjoining
the home lots. He cleared this lot, built a house and resided on it until his
death in 1822, at the age of sixty-eight. This lot and the preceding were afterwards
occupied by Ichabod M. Cushman as his home farm, until the time of his death,
residing in the house built by Morton. The widow of Mr. Cushman retains her dower
in the farm, and the remainder is owned by his son-in-law, John Hacket, who resides
with the widow on the homestead:
Bethuel
Goodrich, about the year 1790 settled and built a house on No. 4, lying north
of Boardman's lot, and resided on it until his death in 1829 at the age of fifty-three
years. The lot was afterwards owned by Austin Johnson, Esq.j and now belongs to
his estate.
Elnathan
Hammond, from Lanesborough, Mass., in the year 1794, settled on a lot of about
forty acres next north of Lucius Barrows' farm, on the west end of the second
hundred acre division, on the right of John Howe. This was a long lot about. forty
rods wide, lying between the old and new line of New Haven. On this he commenced
a clearing and built a plank house. This whole lot extended east a few rods over
the Muddy Branch, and a small tract, including the falls, at the east end has
been appropriated as a mill lot and is now owned, with the marble saw-mill and
privileges, by Isaac Gibbs. Ephraim Spaulding for many years, and until his death
owned and occupied the remainder as his home farm. It is now owned by Horatio
Goodrich.
Mr.
Hammond remained at the place of his first settlement only a year or two, and
removed to that part of No. 13 next north of Robert Huston's lot, which lies east
of the road. Here he built a house and resided with his family until the 10th
of September 1856, when he died at the age of ninety-five. His sons, William S.
and Edwin having grown up to maturity, have advantageously and profitably improved
the farm, and from year to year have added to it,
221
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
among other tracts, the remainder of the original lot, on which their father
settled, and the whole of the Robert Huston farm. Edwin occupied the house on
the latter, and William S.* in his lifetime recently built him a new house opposite
to the old homestead, which by an exchange with his widow is now occupied by
Edwin. John A. Hammond, another son, as elsewhere stated, resides on the south
east corner of the governor's right, and owns a part of that with other lands.
Richard
Hall from Mansfield Conn., purchased the lot on which Mr. Hammond first settled,
with other adjoining lands in New Haven, and occupied them as his home farm until
1799, when he was succeeded by Dea. Samuel Craft. After Deacon Craft's sons, Pearl
Craft and William Craft arrived at mature age and had families of their own, his
father divided his farm between them; but they successively sold their lands and
removed to the west. While they lived here, Deacon Craft and his son Pearl lived
together in the old plank house, which is now demolished, and William built the
present house for his residence. This house, with the adjoining lands, is owned
by Almon Farnsworth.
Eleazer
Conant from Mansfield, Conn., in 1794, purchased the south half of the Bentley
pitch and a part of the Risley pitch, and went into possession of it with his
family; and the same year his brother John Conant purchased of Elisha Fuller,
and went into possession of the north half of the Bently lot. Eleazer Conant resided
on his farm for many years, until his sons had grown up and settled in the west,
among whom was Hon. Shubael Conant of Detroit. Soon after in 1819 he and his wife
went to visit their children, and both died, while making their visit at the residence
of their son, Hon. Horatio Conant, at Maumee, Ohio. His farm is now owned by different
persons. The dwelling house and land above the road belongs to the estate of John
Simmons Esq.
John
Conant continued on his farm until his death. It has since
----------
*William S. Hammond died of a lung fever, after a short but distressing
illness, on the 27th May, 1858, universally lamented. He was a deacon of the Congregational
Church, and as a man was universally respected and loved.
222
HISTORY OF MIDDLEBURY.
been owned by Gen. Hastings
Warren, and afterwards by William Y. Ripley, and now by Edward Muzzey.
Abisha
Washburn, in 1793, received from his son-in-law John Chipman, a deed of the
farm an which Jonathan Chipman first settled, and in 1796 deeded it to his son-in-law,
Freedom Loomis, then of Sunderland, on the condition of receiving for himself
and wife, during their lives, such sums as they might need for their support.
They continued to reside here together until the time of their respective deaths.
Mr. Washburn died in 1813, aged 91 years; his wife in 1815, aged 87, and Mr Loomis
in 1822, at the age of 56. George C. Loomis, son of Mr. Loomis, continued in possession
of the farm for several years. It is now owned by Smith K. Seeley. The two story
house built by Mr. Loomis was burnt in 1838 or 1839, and has not been rebuilt.